Kent Connaughton

PORTLAND – Regional Forester Kent Connaughton announced his plan to retire June 28, ending a tenure of 26-1/2 years with the U.S. Forest Service.

Connaughton’s career began in Oregon but took him to California, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin and back to the Northwest.

Since taking the helm of the Pacific Northwest Region in 2011, he has been a driving force behind the accelerated restoration push for the Malheur National Forest and others in the region.

“I leave with a deep sense of satisfaction and fulfillment for having dedicated so much of my life to public service,” he said. “How privileged I feel to have spent each day benefiting current and future generations by conserving the nation’s forests.

“I also leave with an extraordinary sense of gratitude for having worked with and personally known so many fine people in and out of the Forest Service.”

His successor at the helm of Region 6, the Pacific Northwest, has not been named.

Connaughton started out as a forest economics researcher at the Pacific Northwest Research Station, and later was a forest supervisor for Lassen National Forest in California and deputy regional forester in the Pacific Southwest Region. He also has been an associate deputy chief for state and private forestry, and regional forester for the Eastern Region.